For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Friday, January 15, 2010

I don't know what's going on........

Honestly, I haven't got a clue. Todays heading is so appropriate, everything is upside down, topsy turvy, in disarray. Let's get the grovelling apology out of the way first, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry....damp stretching.....sorry. I promise hand on heart that I damp stretched and took pictures. Then the problem, the pictures were horrendous, blurred, fuzzy, awful. By then it was too late, the piece was damp...and stretching. Now regular readers of this blog will be aware of my OCD...there is no way I could have put those pictures on here. Then I thought, ''create another blog just for those pictures'', which I did but then OCD again, I couldn't put the pictures on there either. I had visions of people from everywhere searching google for information on damp stretching and being offered the awful pictures that I took and being associated with that would be a fate worse than death for me so I just can't do it. Buy me a therapist, refer me to a colleague, I don't know. So I am afraid I will have to try again, maybe tomorrow. Now back to embroidery and my state of confusion. The text is finished and damp stretched and is intended for use with the lovely colourful piece from a few posts back.




They go well together don't you think? I had plans, boy did I have plans. Now I can't remember, can't decide, don't know what to do. What next? Well, leave it a while, think about it, maybe draw a bit more. In the meantime my white piece has been sparingly quilted and just needs finishing. I have in mind to make that simple, perhaps just bind the edge, at a push back it with muslin yet, wait for it, I can't decide. So I have started something else in the hope that whilst I am sitting relaxing, sewing, I will reach a conclusion regarding all these can't decide problems!
My postman brought me a lovely suprise this week. Claire (all the way from Australia) had been having a clear out, found this little piece of unfinished cross stitch and thought of me, wow thanks Claire, I love it!


It's the weekend now. I hope to make some decisions, finish something, create something wonderful, visit some cyber friends, answer some comments, damp stretch and take GOOD photos and generally get my brain back! Hope you have a good one x

10 comments:

jennyflowerblue said...

What a lovely combo! I can't wait to see where the pansies peep out again- how exciting!

Gina said...

If you find a way out of the confusion let me know. I've dithered and procrastinated, done a bit of this, a bit of that but seem to have achieved nothing over the past two days!

Jane said...

Sometimes doing something completely different helps. It will all come to you in time, and the wait will be worthwhile.

Victoria said...

Being a person also afflicted with OCD your post made me smile... I get the mental angst!

Also, I think the small bits of red and blue, against all that brilliant and beautiful white is simply gorgeous.

Joei Rhode Island said...

Love the white letter on white...it looks like pure poetry. And, I'll wait for the damp stretch pictures...you gave me a "fix" of "Karen's loveliness".

Anonymous said...

I can't begin to imagine how long stitching that text must have taken... beautiful work. I admit to doing the same thing with photos, by the way. Hadn't realised it was OCD!

Anonymous said...

SO gorgeous- and SO Much work..!!
Have a nice weekend, hugs Hege(Norway).

Jackie said...

They're not that bad. Picture number 5 is lovely and sharp. Great work.

Jacky said...

What a beautiful little piece of cross stitch from Claire...I am sure you already have ideas buzzing in your head for this lovely piece.
Your cross stitch letters and french knots with a hint of colour look beautiful.

Jacky xox

MarieE said...

Oh Karen! Sorry my request for damp stretching put you in a dither! Just keep doing all the wonderful things you do. Your whitework always looks so lovely, fresh, and crisp- I can't imagine any of my work looking so nice.